The Forest Spirit
by Wind's Gale
Summary: Korra, Asami, Opal, and Bolin investigate claims of a spirit terrorizing Zaofu.


_A/N: Prompts: Bar, Wei, "Failure is a word unknown to me." Element included: Fire, Word count: 2,685 Genre: Suspense._

* * *

Nights.

Nights were always full of mystery. Why did everything happen at night? When Suyin informed Korra of the mishaps happening in Zaofu, Korra hoped her journey would lead to some place pleasant. That wasn't a dark forest. Full of angry spirits. In the middle of the night. The outside walls of Zaofu were repeatedly damaged for the past couple of weeks and one was even torn off. People reported seeing a strange, glowing creature running through the forest at night. Korra, of course, had to investigate.

Korra, Asami, Bolin, and Opal stood outside the forest not far from Zaofu. It was dense and eerie despite the residential area of Zaofu being open and cheery. Strange noises danced in the distance of the forest. Bolin trembled Opal while Korra and Asami looked at each other.

"Don't you think maybe we should get some kind of weapon or protection or.."

"Don't worry, Bolin, if you're scared, you can head back. There's no pressure." Opal said as she turned to take Bolin's hand into hers and pat it softly.

"No way! I need to be here to protect my woman!" Bolin pulled his hand away from his girlfriend's only to wrap his arm around her and squeeze her too tightly. "No spirit shall take the love of my life away!"

"Let's get this over with. Everyone stay close, this doesn't sound like an ordinary spirit." Korra said before leading the group off into the forest. Asami, Opal, and Bolin followed in that order.

* * *

The darkness in the forest overshadowed the illuminating moon. Korra had to produce a fire within her palm to help the others see through the thick foliage. The noises of the forest echoed. Screeching of the night birds, mating calls of the insects, and the occasional croak of a toad-frog provided them the music of nature. The rustles of the bushes and leaves on the canopy alerted the group of movement but they all brushed it off as the animals running around.

"What if we're being followed?" Bolin whispered.

"I think we'd be able to sense it.." Asami trailed off. What if they were?

"Korra, look over there!" They heard Opal exclaim. Everyone's eyes trailed towards where Opal was pointing. Past some low brush were glowing prints. Whatever made the prints had three toes attached to large claws. As Korra approached the weird prints, she found they were three times as big as her shoe.

"What kind of creature would make such strange footprints?" Asami asked.

A loud, piercing scream suddenly penetrated the air. It didn't sound human, yet at the same time, it did. Perhaps a spirit imitating the cries of a human?

"W-What was that?!" Bolin asked as he hid between Korra and Asami who were looking in different directions trying to figure out where the scream came from.

The scream came again, only louder and higher pitched, followed by the cackling of what sounded like a large hyena-dog.

"G-Guys, maybe we should.." Bolin paused as he felt something creep on his pants leg. Whatever it was, it was prickly and the size of Pabu.

Fearful eyes slowly made their way down to his leg. On it, staring at him with eight eyes, was a hairy, red spider with fangs draw out and front legs quickly rubbing each other.

"G-G-G-…GUUYS!" Bolin shook the spider off as Korra, Opal, and Asami looked over towards him. Asami gasped and Opal cried out. Korra used her earth bending to crush the spider between two plates of rock. It was too late for Bolin; He had already run off screaming and crying.

"Bolin! Come back!" Opal yelled after him before dashing off.

"Opal! Bolin!" Korra was about to run off as well, but a tap on her shoulder made her turn her attention towards the rest of the forest behind her. Dozens of large spiders were staring at them with black eyes. There was another cackle echoing through the forest but this time, it was louder and closer.

"I think…we should run." Asami whispered. Korra nodded and took the lead of dashing off in the direction Bolin and Opal went.

* * *

"SPIDER! SPIDER! SPIDER!"

Bolin had been running through the woods for ten minutes and only then did his legs start to tire. He stopped briefly to hunch over and catch his breath.

"Why can't I find my way out of here?! Oh man, where's Korra and Opal?"

Cackling was suddenly heard behind him. It sounded way too close. The rustling of the bush behind him made him freeze in his spot. He was too terrified to look and see what it was. It couldn't have been good.

He brought is hands to his head while simultaneously bringing the Earth around him to encase him. "I'll just wait here for Korra. And hope those spiders and monsters can't earthbend.."

There was tapping outside the earth cocoon.

 _Tap Tap_

 _Tap_

Bolin began to shake. He backed away from the side with the tapping, only to bump into something that was a wall. He gulped and slowly turned around. It was a person. Someone was with him. Inside his cocoon. Invading his pace.

"Aaahh!" He forced all walls of the cocoon to propel in the opposite direction so he was exposed to the forest again while stumbling back away from whatever he had just bumped into and landing on his behind.

The figure was Eska, staring at him with those icy eyes he had come to both love and hate.

"W-What is this?! How is this possible. You're..in the North and we're here in the Earth Kingdom and I'm so confused. Is this about Opal? You said it was cool for us to break up and see other people!" Bolin cried. "But since you're here…can you protect me from the mean spirit monsters and spider? I got separated from the rest so.."

Eska said nothing. A wicked grin spread across her mouth. This wasn't Eska. Those teeth were sharp. Extremely sharp. The Eska impersonator held up a betrothal necklace for Bolin to see glistening in the moonlight.

Another cry came from him as he leapt up and ran away. "WHO ARE YOU!? YOU'RE NOT ESKA!"

* * *

"BOLIN? BOLIN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Opal sighed. Now she was starting to worry about Bolin. At least Korra and Asami had each other but Bolin was lost. Not to mention, going through all the bushes was starting to make her itchy. All the bugs she had to flick off and animals she disturbed was making her uneasy.

"BOLIN! COME OUT HERE, WE NEED TO FIND KORRA!"

It was no use. She had no idea where he went. He could have gotten himself into trouble by now.

"This is useless! I'll never find him at this rate." Opal paused for a minute to ponder her options. "Knowing him, he's probably trying to find his way out of here. Maybe if I look near the edge of the forest.."

 _Step_

 _Step_

 _Step_

The sounds of feet crunching the leaves on the ground gained her attention. She looked up in the direction of the sound, which was in front of her behind a tree.

"Who's there? Korra? Bolin? Asami?" When she received no response, she readied herself for defense. She wished she had warn her glider outfit instead of her usual wear.

The footsteps grew louder and heavier, yet she could see no one. If only she could firebend like Korra.

' _Maybe I should go..'_ She turned around, only to become face-to-face with Wing.

"W-What? What are you doing out here! Mom doesn't want you out there! And where's-" She turned around to see Wei staring too close to her.

"Huh?" She backed away until she bumped until Wing. "What's going on?" She tried to move away from them, but they both each grabbed one of her arms. Wing had a wooden bar in his hand suddenly. Two grins revealed razor sharp teeth.

Opal shrieked.

* * *

"I keep hearing yelling. Do you think it's Opal and Bolin?" Asami asked as she and Korra made their way through the brush.

"I don't know. I've been hearing all kinds of strange sounds since we got here. I'm not even sure if this is a spirit anymore. It could be something more menacing." Korra responded while she brightened the flame in her hand. It seemed the deeper into the forest they went, the darker it got. "Just stay close. I'm sure we'll find them."

"Have noticed that the noises…stopped?"

"What do you mean?" Korra stopped to turn towards Asami.

"Before, we heard animal noises. Now, I don't hear anything aside from the occasional scream or cackling."

"Yeah that…odd." Korra said quietly as she looked at the canopy of the woods. They both knew what it meant. When the animals were quiet, that meant something was around. Was something watching them?

"Wait, do you hear that?" Asami whispered.

A moment of silence revealed the sound of screaming. Or perhaps crying.

"What is that?" Korra asked. The sound was getting louder.

"…..rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa!" They heard.

They stood completely still, staring at one another as they tried to decide whether they should run or investigate.

"….ooooooorrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Is that..?" Asami asked.

Her question was answered when Bolin smacked into Korra and knocked her over.

"Korra! It was horrible! There was laughter and then tapping and then Eska!" Bolin whined as he clung to Korra. Asami couldn't help herself as she chuckled.

"Where's Opal?" Korra asked.

Bolin's eyes widened. "Oh my goodness, I forgot my girlfriend!" He pulled himself off of Korra to stand up and pace around. He looked ready to pull to his hair out. "We gotta find her. Who knows what kind of foul, twisted beings are here!"

"You said you saw Eska. Where was she?" Asami asked.

"She was…somewhere but it wasn't Eska. It must have been some..weird thing shaped like Eska because when she smiled, all her teeth were razor sharp like some kind of shark-bear."

Korra stood up to dust herself off. "I don't know. Eska's teeth are pretty sharp."

There was rustling in a bush next to them, followed by a deep growl.

"I think now might be a good time to run." Asami said.

"I agree!" Bolin exclaimed before taking off into the forest. The girls followed him in suit.

It seemed the faster they ran, the more noises they heard. And the closer they drew.

The dim light of the forest made it hard to see ahead. They didn't think it was much of a problem until Bolin smacked into something.

"Oww…"

Bolin had grabbed whatever he ran into before it fell over. Relief washed over him when he realized it was Opal.

"Opal! You're alright!" He said before planting kisses all over her face.

"Please tell me you're the real Bolin."

"Of course I am. Why? Did you..see something strange?" Bolin hoisted her onto her feet while Korra and Asami approached them.

"Good to see you're alright." Asami said. Korra lit two flames in her hands.

"These..spirits or whatever can shape shift. They pretended to be Wei and Wing. They must know the people in Zaofu." Opal stated. "I managed to blast both of them with my air bending enough so that I could flee. I don't know if they're following me.

"They must know the people in the Northern Water Tribe too because I saw Eska. Or, what I thought was Eska. Whatever it was, it wanted me to marry it."

"There's something odd here. Spirits don't do this. Do they?" Korra asked mostly to herself. She turned around to examine the area they were in. A few feet from them were those familiar glowing prints in the grass. "You see there? More glowing footprints. Let's follow them. We should be fine as long as we keep moving."

* * *

For about half an hour, they followed the strange footprints. It lead them to a weird, portal-like light that was so bright, Korra didn't need to use her fire.

"What is this?" Opal asked.

"You guys stand back. I'm going to take a closer look." Korra said.

Asami grabbed Korra's hand and placed her own on her shoulder. "Be careful."

Korra nodded and Asami let go. Before Korra could approach it, a weird creature stepped out of the light. It was shaped like a human man but completely black with no facial features except a pair of red, glowing eyes. The light behind it dimmed when it noticed the four.

"Ah, humans. What could you possibly want this time?" It asked. It's voice was deep but didn't sound menacing or frightening at all.

"Are you responsible for the damage in Zaofu and the weird noises in this forest?" Korra stepped forward to confront the spirit but kept her distance.

"What's a Zaofu?" It responded.

"You know, that place where all the humans live inside those metal flowers?" Bolin said while hiding behind Opal.

"Zao…fu. I know not of the damages you speak but I may know why. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I started experimenting with the energy within the forest. Unfortunately, the trees started emitting some kind of gas. It's harmless but it drives my wife crazy sometimes and she leaves her footprints everywhere. She must be the one rampaging through your Zaofu. The gas will clear out in another couple of days."

Asami blinked.

"And what about the shape-shifting spirits?" Opal asked.

"Shape-shifters?" The black spirit asked. Though it had no face, it was obvious that it was confused.

"I saw my ex-girlfriend and Opal saw her brothers." Bolin chimed in.

"The gas must make humans hallucinate. There are no spirits that reside here that shape-shift."

"And the spiders?" Asami said while pointing to one she noticed climbing on a tree. A shiver went up her spine.

The black spirit shrugged. "They like the gas. They're completely harmless. They actually only eat the flowers at the top of the trees. The fangs they have are just for show."

"So, you and your wife released a gas that pretty much caused all this?" Korra asked. The spirit nodded.

"Well, I've seen everything. Eska with razor sharp teeth, giant spiders, married spirits, a weird portal into the spirit world. I'm ready to go to bed." Bolin turned around to leave, only to realize he didn't know which way to go. "Uh..which way is 'out'?"

A black finger lifted and pointed in the correct direction. Bolin nodded his thanks before trailing off to leave the forest. Opal followed him soon after before Asami did.

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about this area." Korra said as she walked closer to the spirit.

"The physical world has always fascinated me. With the spirit portals opened, I am able to study it up close. Thank you for that, Avatar."

"Even after the chaos that happened, especially with your wife, you're still interested in this world? I always thought spirits detested the violence and chaos that happened."

"Failure is a word unknown to me. This world is beautiful in a way different from the spirit world. The chaos is part of its peace. I will study it and learn more. I will take in all it has to offer, no matter the flaws."

"Right. So, uh, how does a spirit marriage work exactly?"

"That will be another question for another time. You must leave now. The sun will be upon you shortly."

Korra nodded and bowed. The spirit mimicked it.

Another job well done and another reason not to go into a spooky forest at night.


End file.
